CISF's Metro helpline inundated with calls about routes, timings

At a time when Delhi was witnessing protests following the December 16 gang rape, the metro helpline of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was flooded with calls related to metro movement.

An analysis of calls received on the CISF helpline revealed that in January, nearly 30% of the calls were about whether metro will run on certain stations or not.

Sources said that during the protests, the Delhi Police used to ask the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to close down certain stations. Clueless passengers used to call the helpline to know which metro station was operational.

The analysis revealed that in general, passengers were more interested in knowing metro routes and timings instead of using the helpline for genuine reasons.

"In January, out of 689 calls that were received on our helpline, 246 were about metro movement in contingency followed by 204 calls of people asking about routes and timing," said Udayan Bannerjee, DIG of CISF. A total of 3,903 calls were received at the CISF helpline this year till May and 25% of them were about metro routes and timing.

"Passengers also complain about facilities on our helpline. The third most frequent query was about prohibited items in the metro. Apart from that, people enquired about the airport metro line, informed about unattended baggage and presence of men in women's coach," Bannerjee added.

After liquor was put on the prohibited items list in January, the number of calls doubled and a majority of them had queries on carrying a liquor bottle.

"It is good that people are aware and making calls about unattended baggage. In five months, we have received 104 calls from passengers about unattended baggage," he said.